A traditional capacitor, such as an electrostatic capacitor, has a capacitance, which is based on an area of two electrostatic plates and a separating distance between the electrostatic plates. Such a capacitor has a dry separator between the plates. However, a supercapacitor is an electrochemical capacitor, which is an electrochemical energy storage device instead of an electrostatic energy storage device. In a typical supercapacitor, an electric charge is stored in an electrical double layer formed at an interface between an electrode and electrolyte solution, which is a liquid. A supercapacitor may include a pair of electrodes, which are separated by a porous separator. The electrodes and the porous separator are immersed in the electrolyte solution. The porous separator, filled with the electrolyte solution, is used to physically isolate the electrodes and prevent electrical shorting of the electrodes. The electrodes may include highly porous carbon particles, which may provide a very high surface area. As a result, a capacitance of a supercapacitor may be large compared to the capacitance of the traditional capacitor. Specific energy is defined as energy per unit mass. The energy stored in a capacitor is directly related to its capacitance and its voltage. Although a maximum operating voltage of a supercapacitor may be on the order of about one volt, the large capacitance may enable the supercapacitor to have a relatively high specific energy.
Response times of supercapacitors tend to be relatively slow. For example, response times may be on the order of hundreds of milliseconds to seconds. As such, supercapacitors may be used in applications that don't require fast response times. For example, such applications may use supercapacitors for energy storage. Integrated circuitry may include a supercapacitor to provide power for certain circuits, such as providing operational power or back-up power for memory circuits, computer circuits, digital circuits, analog circuits, the like, or any combination thereof. Such integrated circuitry may be used in portable equipment, which may need to be small, rugged, light weight, and function in harsh environmental conditions. Preventing leakage of the supercapacitor's liquid electrolyte solution in a portable device may be challenging. Also, exposure of the liquid electrolyte solution to moisture in air may damage the supercapacitor. Therefore, fabrication of the supercapacitor may have special manufacturing needs, thereby preventing integration of supercapacitors into standard manufacturing processes. Further, to keep the supercapacitor small and light weight, a high specific energy is needed. Thus, there is a need for a mechanically durable supercapacitor, which can be fabricated using standard manufacturing processes and has high specific energy.